Josep Guardiola: I hope that Lionel Messi retires when he is 40
Pep Guardiola, who has left Bayern Munich’s bench to take over at Manchester City next season, said on Saturday on a program celebrating 40 years of Catalan football on LaTdP that he hopes “Lionel Messi retires when he is 40.”
The former Barcelona manager (2008-2012) also played down his role on the club’s recent success - he won 14 of a possible 19 titles. “The only thing I did was to transmit the learnings of [Johan] Cruyff and [Carles] Rexach to the new generations,” he said.
The coach from Santepedor believes it is “gratifying” to see the years pass and Barça continue winning. And he ventured that things will continue that way “after Luis Enrique, when other ex-players, like Xavi or [Sergio] Busquets take over the team… And I hope Leo retires when he is 40.”
Guardiola, who shared a moment with Carles Puyol on the program, his captain when he was in charge, is delighted to see the success of the team at Camp Nou under Luis Enrique, emphasising the Barça boss’ “great energy”.
